Title: Jane Eyre Author: Charlotte Brontë Date of Publication: October 16th, 1847 Literary Period: Victorian Genre: Bildungsroman; Gothic Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting / Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Jane Eyre takes place in Northern England during the Victorian period, which is of critical importance to the literary work because it provides the ideal observation ground for issues of gender and class. In this time period, women were subjugated, objectified, and all but silenced on matters of importance. So, essentially, woman were stripped of all priviliges of an individual, independent being (with the exception of Jane, of course). Moreover, since the story took place in the Victorian period, the concept of divine intervention remains plausible to the audience at the time the book was published. Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here.
Jane starts telling the story of her life with herself as a child (naturally), living as a “dependent” under the care of her Aunt Mrs. Reed.
Jane Eyre is unjustly punished and bansihed to the Red Room as punishment
Mrs. Reed sends Jane away to a school for girls at Lowood.
At Lowood Jane meets her first influential friend Helen.
After the untimely death of Helen, Jane continues on at Lowood, working hard and waiting for the year when she will be allowed to leave.
Jane chooses to advertise herself as a governess.
After receiving notice from Ms. Fairfax, Jane leaves Lowood and heads to Thornfield, home of Mr. Rochester, to teach his ward Adele.
In their first encounter, Jane is wandering about the premises as Rochester approaches on his horse. Jane spooks the horse causing Rochester to fall off
Mr. Rochester's bed is set on fire as he sleeps; Jane becomes suspicious of Grace Poole
Jane finds out about Rochester meeting friends; one of his friends is Blanche Ingram, a young beautiful woman.
Jane feels foolish for thinking a of her occupation and social class could ever catch the eye of Mr. Rochester when Blanche Ingram’s are in the world.
Rochester comes to the house in the presence of Ms. Ingram and many other men and women.
A fortuneteller comes to the house and remains persistent in his mission to read the fortunes of the young ladies present. Ms. Ingram emerges unsettled with her fortune whereas the others are fairly satisfied; Jane goes last.
Rochester confesses to being the fortune teller after telling Jane of her great logic over emotions.
John, Jane’s cousin, has committed suicide and Mrs. Reed suffered a stroke so Jane heads back to Gateshead for the family.
Eventually Mrs. Reed apologizes for the torturous years and shows her a letter from Mr. Eyre that he wanted to adopt Jane.
After Mrs. Reed’s death Jane stays for a while then goes back to Thornfield to see Rochester.
One night Rochester and Jane go on a walk and Rochester proposes to Jane; that night the tree above the kiss is struck by lightning.
Rochester begins to excessively dote on Jane and they fall deeper in love with each other.
She wishes to become more of an equal so she reaches out to John Eyre.
The marriage day comes, but it is disrupted by Mr. Briggs and Richard Mason to inform everybody that Rochester is already married.
John Eyre heard of the wedding and knew of the previous marriage and wanted to break up this one to further harm Jane.
Bertha is then introduced as a crazy wife who lives with Grace Poole in the attic in darkness and hiding.
Rochester proposes to Jane another time but she refuses.
In an attempt to change her mind, Rochester tells the story behind his marriage to Bertha.
Jane's runs away in the night.
Jane's journey leads her, in deteriorating condition, to Moor house, where she meets St. John and his two sisters, Mary and Diana.
Hannah, the servant at Moor house, tells Jane that the family's father, Mr. Rivers, lost the family money through a bad business deal that consequently forced the sisters to take on jobs as governesses.
St. John announces to his sister that their Uncle John died and gave his inheritance to an unknown relative.
St. John gets Jane with a job at a schoolhouse in Morton, where she would be teaching a class of girls.
After proclaiming to St. John that he should marry Rosamond, he confides in Jane that he is attracted to Rosamond but she would be an incompatible wife for a missionary.
Throughout her stay at Moor house and Morton, Jane has nightmares involving Rochester.
Jane learns that her Uncle John has passed and left her with a large inheritance.
It becomes known that Jane is the cousin of the Rivers family.
Enthusiastically, Jane proposes that the inheritance be split between her and her three newly found relatives.
Diana and Mary warmly welcome her into the family while St. John remains distant.
St. John asks Jane to marry him and move to India with him to do missionary work.
Jane agrees to go to India but refuses to marry him.
St. John continuously tries to get Jane to marry him. When Jane feels almost compelled to marry St. John, she hears Rochester's voice speaking to her.
Spell broken, Jane leaves Moor house to head back to Thornfield.
She finds Thornfield abandoned and burnt down.
At a nearby inn, she learns that Bertha had set the place on fire and committed suicide.
Rochester successfully saved the servants but was blinded and lost a hand as a result of the fire.
Jane goes to Ferndean, where Rochester is now living, to visit him.
Rochester proposes to Jane a final time and she accepts.
Jane writes to Mary, Diana, and St. John about the marriage. Mary and Diana write back with updates on their lives and wishes Jane the best.
When Jane visited Adele at her school, Jane discovers that Adele is unhappy and immediately has Adele switch to a school where she is happy so that she does not have to experience what Jane did.
The novel ends with Jane revealing that she is narrating the story from ten years after her marriage, showing that the two are still happily married. Jane and Rochester now have a child together and Rochester is regaining his sight.
Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
“Why, you have saved my life!-snatched me from a horrible and excruciating death!-and you walk past me as if we were mutual strangers! At least shake hands.”
Rochester's requests gives insight into his and Jane's characters. Jane believes that she did her job in extinguishing the fire at Rochester’s bedside and then refuses to acknowledge Rochester. She does not want to see him as more than her employer although she has romantic feelings for him. Rochester tells her to “at least shake hands,” because he wants her to acknowledge him, even if that acknowledgement comes through and action as simple as a handshake. He knows she is hiding her feelings, and wants her to stop .
You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mamma says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma’s expense. Now, I’ll teach you to rummage my bookshelves: for they are mine; all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. Go and stand by the door, out of the way of the mirror and the windows.
This quote by John Reed sums up the family’s feelings about Jane’s presence in their life, as well as the bitter divisions that upper-class citizens in Victorian societies drew between themselves and the lower-income members of society. The other Reed children do not understand why Jane is in their life and do not consider her as being “part of the family” in any regard.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
The opening scene starts of with a depiction of a fall afternoon at Gateshead, her current residence. This establishes the readers feelings towards Gateshead, since the description is extremely dreary. Jane is also secluded from the Reed children. She sits by herself and reads, until disturbed by John Reed, who torments her, and causes her to strike back. She may have began her life story at that moment because it was the first time she had struck back at John, and it is the beginning of her coming into her own, instead of being controlled. Describe the significance of the closing scene.
In the closing scene, we find out that Jane has been married to Rochester for ten years while telling her life story. The union between Jane and Rochester is far more egletarian this time. And by that I mean no more mentally unstable exes (its too bad that these still exist in reality). Rochester regaining his vision adds to the "happy ending" because, if Rochester had not been physically harmed and in need of assistance, he probably would still see her as an object of affection who must be doted on and must feel no need to reciprocate such intense passion. Jane may end with a letter from St. John because he discusses death, which is the final part of any life story. While some may see Jane as a woman who defeated obstacles to become independent and an equal to her husband, it also shows Victorian morals because her happy ending came from a marriage, as did Diana and Mary's. And perhaps if Rochester had not been physically harmed and in need of assistance, he wouldn't see her as an equal. Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
The author uses Jane as the narrator for the events of her life, but gives Jane a retrospective, eloquent voice on the earlier stages of her life. The author chose to do so to make Jane appear more articulate, collected, and mature about these events in her life. Jane's reflective voice represents how she has come to age by the end of the novel. List importance characters and their significance.
Bertha
Her, as well as the rest of her family are mentally unstable. That is why Rochester keeps her locked away and under the care of Grace Poole. She is referred to being compared to Earth because she is dark like the Earth, referring to her skin tone, and "erth" is in her name.
Jane Eyre
Jane’s maturation and “coming of age” is the central aspect of the novel. Specifically, it is the struggle between her desire for independecee and her need for relationships that drive the story. She wants freedom, but she doesn’t know how to define that freedom. Through her relationships with Rochester and St. John, she is able to consider the types of freedoms and boundaries that each offers
Mr. Rochester
Mr. Rochester represents the passion in Jane Eyre. He brings out feelings in Jane that no one else is capable of. Their love can be thought of as fire; dangerous and risky. This fire manifests itself late in the novel by consuming the heavy elements of Rochester's life that drag him down (I am talking about both Berthan and Thornsfield).
St. John
St. John is a foil to Mr. Rochester. He can offer and different life for Jane, but one that is simple, logical and perhaps boring. He provides an inner conflict for Jane that forces her to decide her fate. In the end she follows her heart and goes to Rochester.
River Sisters
Diana Rivers states her support for Jane does not want to marry St. John. Both Diana and Mary are forced to work as governess due to their family’s loss of wealth. They are the type of women that Jane desires to become, full of independence and not afraid to speak their mind.
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Date of Publication: October 16th, 1847
Literary Period: Victorian
Genre: Bildungsroman; Gothic
Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting /
Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas)
Jane Eyre takes place in Northern England during the Victorian period, which is of critical importance to the literary work because it provides the ideal observation ground for issues of gender and class. In this time period, women were subjugated, objectified, and all but silenced on matters of importance. So, essentially, woman were stripped of all priviliges of an individual, independent being (with the exception of Jane, of course). Moreover, since the story took place in the Victorian period, the concept of divine intervention remains plausible to the audience at the time the book was published.
Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here.
Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE.
Describe the significance of the opening scene.
The opening scene starts of with a depiction of a fall afternoon at Gateshead, her current residence. This establishes the readers feelings towards Gateshead, since the description is extremely dreary. Jane is also secluded from the Reed children. She sits by herself and reads, until disturbed by John Reed, who torments her, and causes her to strike back. She may have began her life story at that moment because it was the first time she had struck back at John, and it is the beginning of her coming into her own, instead of being controlled.
Describe the significance of the closing scene.
In the closing scene, we find out that Jane has been married to Rochester for ten years while telling her life story. The union between Jane and Rochester is far more egletarian this time. And by that I mean no more mentally unstable exes (its too bad that these still exist in reality). Rochester regaining his vision adds to the "happy ending" because, if Rochester had not been physically harmed and in need of assistance, he probably would still see her as an object of affection who must be doted on and must feel no need to reciprocate such intense passion. Jane may end with a letter from St. John because he discusses death, which is the final part of any life story. While some may see Jane as a woman who defeated obstacles to become independent and an equal to her husband, it also shows Victorian morals because her happy ending came from a marriage, as did Diana and Mary's. And perhaps if Rochester had not been physically harmed and in need of assistance, he wouldn't see her as an equal.
Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text.
The author uses Jane as the narrator for the events of her life, but gives Jane a retrospective, eloquent voice on the earlier stages of her life. The author chose to do so to make Jane appear more articulate, collected, and mature about these events in her life. Jane's reflective voice represents how she has come to age by the end of the novel.
List importance characters and their significance.